Truth and Consequences
by Stratusfied247
Summary: Trish is forced to face up to some truths. TrishRandy one-shot


She knew it was wrong but when his hand brushed hers, she didn't pull away. Everything was falling apart. The world was turning upside down and Trish Stratus didn't know right from left. She didn't know where her loyalties lied anymore, or what she was supposed to do. She just knew that right then, she probably shouldn't have been touching Randy Orton's hand.

She'd left him for power and fortune. She had caused that tear in his ego that seemed to be the beginning of his downfall, his spiral towards the bottom. Of course, she knew she was thinking mighty highly of herself, but Trish couldn't avoid thinking that her betrayal was the first of more losses than he really deserved.

Things had been great back then, though. She and Hunter were on top of the world and he actually pretended to give a damn about someone other than himself from time to time. That was all before he degraded a legend. Before he decided to take more credit for things than he deserved. Before Evolution imploded and left her with a man who was quickly falling into the abyss of overbearing conceit and an attitude too harsh for Trish to handle.

He wouldn't hurt her, but there were still ways for him to hurt her. He'd already left her to the mercy of Kane, too busy with his own problems to see that anyone else had them. Their arguments had long since vanished to leave only silence and discomfort. Granted, she was never with Hunter for sincerity or true emotion, but there was a time when he did show some kind of affection, even if it were to just put his arm around her waist. Now, he barely touched her. And yet, they still shared a hotel room because regardless of what went on behind closed doors, everyone else had to think that they were just fine.

But, Randy knew different. Randy had always been able to see things for what they were. Yeah, he was a headstrong kid with his own agenda, but he wasn't clueless. He wasn't selfish. When he was part of Evolution, he was always there for his teammates, whether or not they were there for him. He would have done anything for Batista or Flair or even Hunter. He would have done anything for Trish.

Now, he wasn't doing anything for anyone but himself.

"Randy, don't," she said softly, though she still didn't move. Trish looked down at his hand and watched his fingers brush against the back of her hand. He was no longer anyone's champion, anyone's anything, but his hands were still as soft. He probably still used the same moisturizing lotion. "I don't even know why're doing this."

She sighed and looked up at him. He wasn't the first one to leave and not ask her to go with him, and Trish thought that maybe that was the reason she'd turned on him in the first place. He had asked her to come into Evolution, but not to leave it. Hunter, on the other hand, gave her a million reasons to stay. He swallowed the jagged pill that gave him the strength to actually make someone feel appreciated. But Randy had just left without really trying, just like the others. Just like Jeff. Just like Rock. Just like Batista did when he left, though he snatched Stacy up quickly, and like Ric would probably do, as well. Just like Hunter would do eventually because as much loyalty as she had for him, he didn't have any to anyone and never had.

"Why didn't you ask me to go with you?" Trish asked him, turning her head away. She couldn't look into his eyes, those drowning pools that seemed so much more mature than the last time she'd actually taken the time to look into them. So much more human.

"I knew you wouldn't go." Randy sighed and his hand slid up her arm. He brushed his fingers lightly against her skin, just below the elbow. "You were too… I don't know. I just knew you wouldn't go, and you know that you wouldn't have gone with me, so we'd have been wasting both of our time with the discussion."

"Maybe I'd have asked you to stay if you'd told me…" Trish sighed. "I don't know, Randy. Things were different back then. We were all together… Maybe if you'd have stayed things would have turned out differently but you leaving was just—it was the beginning of the end of everything."

"It still would've fallen apart, Trish. There's no way we'd have all put up with Hunter for much longer. Just you… You were so much like him that I really should've seen it coming. You were both so focused and centered around what you wanted. But back then, I was what you wanted. We were what you wanted."

That "we" could have possibly been what she wanted again. Maybe not the exact sense of the word, but more the feeling. When it was Trish and Randy, they were an unstoppable duo. It didn't matter what anyone else did because they were a unit. They were going to stand tall with one another. When it was Trish and Hunter, they were only a unit when it suited him, when he needed the back-up or the attention. The team had become one and now, unless it suited Hunter, there was no we. It was just Trish.

"So what's the point in this now, Randy? What makes you think that anything is going to be any different now? I'm still focused and self-centered and just selfish as hell. I'm talking to you now because I want to be selfish. I want someone to talk to me instead of over me or about me."

"But you're talking to me, which is a hell of a lot more than you would have done six months ago." Randy sighed and his fingers wrapped slowly around her arm. "And I think you're ready enough this time for me to ask you."

"Randy…"

"Come with me, Trish. After Wrestlemania, I'm going to Smackdown, and you can come with me. The hell with Hunter and Bischoff and everybody else in this place. Come with me to JBL's cabinet."

"JBL?" She took her attention off of the tightening grip on her arm to chance a look at his face. "What are you talking about?"

Randy smirked. "Who do you think talked me into going over there? I've got plans for Wrestlemania, and JBL's got plans for afterwards. Come with me, Trish. Come with me to Smackdown."

"Is that what this is about? Is this some kind of coup for JBL to show that he's more powerful than Teddy Long or something?" She tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let go. "This is your payment to JBL for him giving you a spot."

"He's giving me Orlando's spot," he told her, "and this isn't some kind of trick or payment or whatever the hell you want to call it. This is about you and me, Trish. This is about you missing what we could have had, what we were on our way to having, just as much as I do."

"Randy." Trish turned away and stared at the closed door behind her. It was all wrong. Talking to Randy, touching Randy, letting him pull her into this room at all. It was all completely and utterly wrong. No matter what else was going on, she was with Hunter. She'd done so much betraying of others that she didn't want to do it again. Even if she wanted to. Even if she could think of it as merely correcting what she had screwed up in the first place. "Hunter's going to be looking for me, Randy. I've got to go."

"Let him look, and let him lose, Trish. You're always doing things for yourself. Well, do this for yourself. You wouldn't be in here with me if you didn't want to be. You wouldn't be talking to me if you didn't want to talk to me." Randy turned her face back to him and said, "You wouldn't have that look in your eye if you were as happy with Hunter as you pretend to be."

"I—I can't leave Ric there." She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Another breath and her eyes slowly reopened. "I can't leave Ric there with him, because Hunter's going to take it out on him. He's beaten him down, Randy. He's beaten all of us down."

"Don't worry about Ric. He's not as beaten as you think. Worry about yourself. Worry about what's going to make you happy. Worry about where you're going to end up if you stay with him."

And just where would she end up? Eventually, she would be back on her own. Whether it was because Hunter left her or she'd grown weary of his antics, they would part ways and Trish would have to stand among all the enemies she'd made with Evolution and have no one to back her up. She wasn't necessarily dependent, but she had grown to like having someone with her. She could do it on her own, she just preferred not to.

But to go off with Randy. To go off to Smackdown and just abandon Raw, abandon her home…

"It's not that easy for me, Randy. I can't just go over there. What does my title become when the only people to defend it against are Dawn Marie, Torrie Wilson and a host of diva search losers?"

"What has your title become when you're defending it against Christy Hemme? She's got Lita, but I can make sure you come out on top, Trish. And if the women's champion is on Smackdown, Long will be forced to make a move against Raw. He'll be forced to do something to keep you there, to make it harder for Bischoff to sweet talk you back."

"Isn't that your job? To keep me on Smackdown?" Trish sighed and her shoulders slumped. "This is just another version of what you did in the first place. You seduced me into Evolution and now you're trying to con me into going to Smackdown. You used sex before, but this time it's just low, Randy. You're preying on my weaknesses, my loneliness."

"I'm not preying on anything." Randy released her and stepped back. "Jesus, Trish, what is it going to take to get you to see what's going on here? Yeah, I seduced you in last time, but this time is nothing like that. I didn't know you back then. I'd never touched you, kissed you… felt your breath against my arm when you rolled over in the night. I didn't know you as the wholehearted loyalist that you are now."

Trish ignored the obvious taunts and temptations of the previous statements and focused on the last. "Loyalist," she said with a grunt. "How loyal will I be if I abandon Hunter? Even if I know that he's gonna end up leaving me to rot, that still doesn't make it right."

"Was it right to abandon me?"

"Randy…"

"You're still loyal, Trish. Loyal to yourself and to what you know you really want. Who you want. Loyalty shouldn't be blind, it should be earned. It should be deserved, and right now, who deserves your loyalty? Who is the one that's trying to actually do something for you? Which one of us has even dared to give a damn about you in the past few months?"

Trish turned away from him and hung her head. "And that," she said, "is the ultimate con job, Randy. It's no different than the game we played with Eugene. Give a little attention, give some affection, and hope that the mark doesn't see the truth."

"Here's your truth." He grabbed her arm and jerked her around. Before Trish could say anything, Randy pressed his lips hard against hers. His mouth parted, then closed again around her bottom lip. Trish whimpered, grunted, then put one hand to his face. With her eyes closed, she could imagine that it was like before everything was torn apart, that she wasn't betraying anyone by enjoying the kind of kiss that she didn't realize she had missed until she'd tasted it again.

Randy pulled back and ran his hand up the back of her neck until his fingers parted her hair. "Find the truth in that, Trish, and remember, when I conned you the first time, I never kissed you like that."

"But you did before you left," she said breathlessly.

"Exactly."

Randy left the room after taking a moment to make sure the hallway was clear and Trish was left to stand there and stare after him. Her fingertips touched her lips and she sighed. That kiss brought only a confusing mass of memories, but somewhere in there, the truth was hidden. A truth that she either couldn't find or didn't want to find. And Trish could only hope that whatever the truth was, she could figure it out before it was too late. Because whether it was right or wrong, the only thing she could figure out in that moment was that some part of her truly did miss Randy Orton.


End file.
